Royal Caribbean International's Anthem of the Seas sailed into Southampton, its home port for the summer season, and is set to be officially named by a 27-year-old travel agent.

Emma Wilby from Sunderland won a competition for the honour of being the ship's so-called Godmother.

Royal Caribbean

The Anthem of the Seas has a robot bar

Royal Caribbean

Inside the Anthem of the Seas cruise ship

PA

The world's joint third largest cruise ship, MS Anthem of the Seas

The vessel has 18 decks and capacity for almost 5,000 passengers, with more than 80,000 people expected to travel on the ship this summer.

Stuart Leven, managing director of Royal Caribbean, said: "Anthem of the Seas is designed to deliver what today's holidaymakers want - new kinds of experiences and adventures.

"Ships like Anthem of the Seas will help attract new groups of people and build the future of cruising. The UK and Ireland is our second largest market and with over 1.7 million Britons now taking a cruise every year, it has huge importance for our business."

The company said the ship is expected to deliver around 50 million to the Southampton economy during the summer season.